# Coloring my kinda gray hair for the first time



## racquel (Mar 6, 2009)

I've got pretty dark brown hair, but I'm 33 and I'm getting little slivery hairs in it. Like, if I look at one side of my head I can count four or five little silver hairs, but I'm sure if I dug around there are probably more like 50 of them on my head. I don't really think I want to go plucking them all.

But I cut my hair off last summer and now I'm growing it out again. My bangs and the back part are about 7" long right now. I really want to wait about another six months before I go to the salon and get a real layered haircut. It doesn't look very good right now, but I don't want to get any of it cut and have it take longer to grow out.

So I was thinking of going and getting a Clairol hair color thing just to try and cover up the gray for a few months till I go to the salon. But I've never colored my own hair. My only friend who colors her own hair has really fine straight light brown hair and no gray, so I don't think she'd have any good advice for me.

So what should I do? Is the cheap hair color stuff good at covering up silvery gray?

I know I should go to a salon, but I just don't even want to bother until I'm ready to get a real haircut.

Thanks!


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## HairEgo (Mar 7, 2009)

I'm not really well educated on the non-salon colouring products, but I do think they have drug store brands specifically to cover grey. Either that or head over to Sallys and get a professional colour and 20V developer (you need 20V developer becuase the cuticle needs to be open enough for the grey to be penetrated)


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## Dragonfly (Mar 7, 2009)

If you only want to cover the grey but leave the brown alone, find something like Miss Clairol or a L'Oreal product that is similar.

The package/box should state that it will only cover the grey and won't dye the rest of the hair.

Or as Hairego recommends, go to Sally's and they can help you purchase the right prodcts just to cover the grey.


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## racquel (Mar 7, 2009)

Yeah, I was looking for the Clairol one that says it blends away grey, but I couldn't find it. I've been looking around their website and I think maybe they changed the name to Clairol Natural Instincts Loving Care. They've got Nice 'n Easy Gray Solution, but that stuff says, "Only Gray Solution has a breakthrough Gray Retexturizer Pretreatment that softens coarse, resistant gray hair," so it sounds like it might be a little too hardcore for me. My gray hairs are really coarse, but I don't have that many, so I don't think I want something that's trying to retexturize my hair! I just wanted to try covering up the gray for a couple months till I get it done professionally.

But then I went through this big involved thing in Loreal's website and it told me to get Excellence Cream. So maybe I'll check that out.


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## Dragonfly (Mar 7, 2009)

If you get something like Excellence, it will cover the greys, but it will also dye the rest of your hair.

Nice and Easy Grey Solution is for really stubborn grey hair. And it will also colour the rest of your hair.

Plain old Nice and Easy will work just as good for covering grey hair and dying the greays.

Clairol Natual Instincts might be what you are looking for - just read the box carefully. I think it will cover the grey and give your brown a nice shine. But it will wash away over so many shampoos.

If you know you are getting your hair professionally coloured in a few months, look for something that will only cover the grey but will leave the brown alone. If you cover the brown with a box dye, it may affect how your professional colour comes out later.


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## racquel (Mar 7, 2009)

Originally Posted by *Dragonfly* /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you know you are getting your hair professionally coloured in a few months, look for something that will only cover the grey but will leave the brown alone. Yeah, that's what I'd like. But looking at the websites, they only recommend Clairol Natural Instincts and L'Oreal Excellence Cream to cover a little gray, and both of them seem to color all your hair.


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## Dragonfly (Mar 8, 2009)

What about looking for a box of colour in a Man's section. I know it's the same stuff women use.

But it is marketed so that men feel comfortable knowing it will get rid of the grey colour yet keep the natural brow/blond/red they have always had.


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